It's My Birthday!
by LiechLiet
Summary: Hetalia Infant School. It's Matthew's birthday, but nobody remembers!


Matthew crept into the classroom, clutching a big bag of sweets. It was his birthday, so his parents had let him sleep in – forgetting that he had to go to school that day, making him fifteen minutes late. He had wanted to hand out the sweets to his classmates, but of course nobody had noticed him come in. Hiding the sweets away in his backpack, he handed his late note to Miss Cuthbert and sat down.

At first break, the Canadian approached Alfred, Arthur and the 'Bad Touch Trio'.  
>"It's my birthday in three days!" Alfred was cheering. <em>Of course<em>. Nobody was going to remember his birthday on July 1st when it was Alfred's on July 4th, he thought bitterly.  
>"Shut up!" snapped Arthur, scowling at him. The English boy must have been hearing it all day. Matthew felt sorry for him. Then Arthur waved to Matthew and beckoned him over. "Hello, Matthew."<br>"Hey Matt!" cried Alfred. "Did you know that it's my birthday in three days?"  
>"Yeah," the Canadian said quietly. "But you guys remember that it's <em>my<em> –"  
>"I hope they have ice cream for dessert today," interrupted Antonio.<br>"Antonio! You have to be nice to Matthew!" exclaimed Gilbert. The Prussian boy pitied him, Matthew thought with embarrassment.  
>As the two boys started bickering, Matthew slipped away. They'd all forgotten his birthday.<p>

During Geography, Matthew was sitting next to Roderich.  
>"Hey Roderich," he whispered. "Do you know what day it is today?"<br>The Austrian boy frowned at him.  
>"July 1st?" pressed Matthew. <em>Please, please, please will he remember!<em>  
>"It's the day that Arthur told you to go to the music room after school!" said Elizabeta, who was sitting across the table. "You know, that piece for the summer fair he wants you to practice?"<br>"Oh, yes." Roderich coughed and blushed. "That's right."  
>Matthew leant over his work again. Neither Roderich nor Elizabeta had remembered either. Great.<p>

At lunchtime Matthew sat with the Asians.  
>"Hey Matthew!" greeted Mei. "How are you?"<br>Glad for the attention, Matthew chuckled and said, "Today's not turning out how I thought it would, eh?" _Hint, hint, say 'happy birthday'._  
>"Oh, yeah," agreed Mei, nodding. "The weather forecast said it would be a lot sunnier!"<br>Damn.  
>"Hey, Yao, know what day it is today?"<br>"It's July 1st," replied the Chinese boy, scooping up his rice artfully with his chopsticks. "Oh my gosh, Mei! You have to taste this!" He turned away from Matthew to talk to his cousin, forgetting that Matthew was there.  
>"Yong Soo? Do you know what day it is?"<br>The Korean boy sat and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Yeah, July 1st. So what?"  
>"Kiku?" Matthew turned to the Japanese boy, his last hope. "Do you know what day it is today?"<br>"Of course," smiled Kiku. "It's July 1st. The day that Hong Kong came under the rule of the Chinese in 1997."  
>"Wonderful." Matthew slumped in his chair, suddenly not finding his lunch appetizing.<p>

During Art, Matthew cornered two of the Nordics, who were both trying to draw a picture of a small dog.  
>"Tino? Berwald? Do you know what day it is today?"<br>"It's July 1st!" said the Finnish boy excitedly. Matthew allowed himself a small smile. Had Tino remembered? "That means there's only 177 days until Christmas!"  
>"Oh." <em>It's my <em>birthday _today and Tino's thinking about _Christmas_?_ Matthew thought angrily, before looking at Berwald.  
>"D'nno." The Swedish boy stared down hard at him, unblinking. Matthew trembled under the terrifying gaze and scuttled off.<p>

At last break, Matthew made one final attempt to get somebody to remember his birthday.  
>"Ivan?"<br>"Da?" the Russian replied, smiling down at Matthew.  
>"Do you know what day it is today?" he asked hopefully. Ivan was his friend, surely Ivan would remember…?<br>"July 1st." Yes! "The middle of summer, da? I love the summer," sighed Ivan, a happy and carefree expression in his eyes.  
>"Um, anything else?"<br>"I don't think so, Matvey."  
>"I see. What about you, Katyusha? Do you know what day it is today?"<br>"Today?" grinned Ivan's older sister, Yekaterina (Katyusha was her nickname). "It's three days until Alfred's birthday!"  
>This was getting ridiculous! Matthew found himself close to tears. Nobody remembered his birthday!<br>"Are you alright?" asked Yekaterina, looking worried.  
>"Fine," muttered Matthew, stalking away.<p>

He was too upset to ask anyone about his birthday during the last lesson. And much to his dismay, nobody seemed to realise.

At the end of the day, Matthew grabbed his backpack and stormed out of the classroom. He just wanted to get home and back to Kumajirou as soon as possible. He didn't even notice when he walked slap-bang into two people.  
>"Ah, Matthew," said Ludwig. "Just who we were looking for."<br>"Ciao, Matthew!" beamed Feliciano. "Come with us!"  
>"Why?" Matthew could feel the rage building up. He had been ignored and forgotten all day, and now these two were ordering him around.<br>"Just because," replied Ludwig. "Now hurry up!"  
>The last three words were enough to make Matthew snap.<br>"No!" he shouted, angry tears springing to his eyes. "No, I won't hurry up! This morning I was so happy that finally somebody would remember me because it's my birthday today, but boy was I wrong! Nobody remembered! Nobody cared!" He pulled the bag of sweets he had been meaning to hand out from his bag – the bright colours reminded him of celebrations and happiness; the two things he had had none of today. He threw them at Ludwig. "Just leave me alone!" he sobbed.  
>Feliciano looked shocked. Ludwig, on the other hand, just put his arm around Matthew's shoulders and firmly steered him in the direction of the music room.<br>"What are you doing? Let me go!" Matthew struggled, but the German's grip was strong. Feliciano hurried after them.  
>Once they got to the large door of the music room, Ludwig kicked open the door and shouted, "We're here!"<p>

"_Surprise!_" Suddenly, every nation that Canada had ever seen or heard of jumped out from their hiding places, holding balloons, cakes and presents. "_Happy birthday Matthew!_"  
>The Canadian blinked in shock, his brain still trying to figure out what had just happened.<br>"You mean… you knew about my birthday the whole day?" he asked accusingly. "And you didn't say anything?"  
>"Well, we wanted this to be a surprise," replied Arthur ruefully, stepping up to hand Matthew a small wrapped present.<br>"I told you that freezing him out was too much!" called Alfred, shoving his English friend out the way to put a bigger gift in the Canadian's arms.  
>"Now Matvey is upset?" Ivan stepped forward to put another present, larger than the other two combined, on top of the other gifts. "I'll punish those who make you upset," vowed the Russian.<br>"There's no need, eh?" smiled Matthew, feeling slightly giddy. He stared around at all the people crowded in the music room. Roderich, Elizabeta, the 'Bad Touch Trio', all the Asians and Nordics – people he had spoken to today! "You mean you were all pretending not to know that it was my birthday?"  
>They all nodded, and apologized profusely.<br>"We just wanted it to be a big surprise," said Elizabeta, a guilty expression on her face. "We're sorry if we upset you."  
>"I wasn't upset," lied Matthew. "What matters is that you put all this hard work in now, eh?"<p>

Everyone cheered and began to shower Matthew with presents – even tight-fisted Vash and his tiny little sister gave him some chocolates! The Canadian was so happy he felt tears begin to roll down his cheeks, flushed with joy.  
>"Thank you!" he cried. "Thank you so much, everyone!" Surrounded by warmth and love, Matthew was in heaven.<br>"You're welcome!" exclaimed Alfred. "But you guys do know that it's my birthday in three days?"  
>"Yeah, yeah," everyone groaned. "You said."<p>

**Happy birthday Matthew! =3= I felt so awful making him feel so upset the whole day, but at least he got a lovely surprise in the end :D Review, please?**


End file.
